Ebola concerns in Asia as Vietnam, Myanmar test patients

Vietnam and Myanmar are testing three patients for the deadly Ebola virus after they arrived in the Southeast Asian nations from Africa suffering fever.

Vietnam's Health Ministry said two Nigerians were sent to Ho Chi Minh City's Tropical Disease Hospital for isolation after they arrived in the city by plane.

None of the Nigerian nationals have shown any symptoms other than a fever, the ministry said.

Airline passengers sitting next to the pair, who travelled to Vietnam on Monday from Nigeria via Qatar, have been advised to monitor their health.

In neighbouring Myanmar, a 22-year-old local man was taken to hospital in Yangon, after arriving in the city's main airport on Tuesday.

The Myanmar Centre for Disease and Control and Prevention said the man is believed to have returned from Guinea, having earlier travelled to Liberia - two countries worst effected by the Ebola outbreak.

"Samples were sent to a WHO (World Health Organisation) recognised laboratory to check whether or not Ebola was present," the Facebook statement said.

It added that four people who accompanied the man to hospital were also being kept under observation.

The global death toll from Ebola stands at 1,229, with the bulk of cases in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

The medical charity MSF has said the outbreak is moving faster than aid organisations can handle, while the World Health Organisation said the scale of the epidemic had been vastly underestimated.

Myanmar, which began emerging from harsh junta rule in 2011, has one of the world's worst funded and poorly equipped healthcare systems, with many people cut off from even basic medical help.

The country's health ministry confirmed the CDC statement, released late Tuesday, but gave no further update.

Vietnam has introduced mandatory temperature checks at its two major international airports in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to try to prevent passengers bringing the deadly virus into the country.

In China, Ebola fears have dampened the opening of the Youth Olympics in Nanjing, after three athletes were barred from competing, in an attempt to limit risks of infection.

Korean Airlines suspended its flights to Nairobi last week citing the risk of Ebola.